Don't toss that

When you know slang words in other dialects of English, some things are unintentionally funny.
[Source]

A bank killer of a financial move

In November 2021, I refinanced the mortgage on our Hawaii house. We locked in a 1.99% interest rate on the remaining principal (~$590k) for 30 years.

Fast forward to today, and Republic First bank has gone gone into receivership. Why? Because in 2021, "Previous leadership invest[ed] heavily in long-duration securities with low fixed interest rates." As interest rates have risen since then, those securities have declined in value.
Then, in 2022, Republic First "grew [its] jumbo mortgage portfolio at below-market interest rates." Although our refinance was through a different lender, that very well describes what we did to the bank we refinanced with. We locked got a fixed, jumbo mortgage at what is now a below market rate. Not just below market, but below the current inflation rate.

Whether or not that situation is widespread, or if it represents a serious threat to the banking industry, only time will tell. Regardless, it represents one of the few time, to paraphrase Danny Ocean, when I've had the perfect hand, and I've bet big, and taken the house.

Paris trip, Day 4

The only thing we abolutely *had* to do during our trip to Paris was visit the Palace of Versailles. True to form, there were long lines everywhere.
The only time there *wasn't* a lines was when areas were blocked off.
The art was tremendous. I continually felt like Po in Kung Fu Panda -- "I've only seen paintings of that painting!"
While there are much better images online and in print (such as The Coronation of Napoleon), what's lost is the sheer *scale* of these works. Although there's no substitute for being there (in this case, the Hall of Mirrors), the fact that everyone else is there too is inescapable.
But it's one of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences that I won't forget. Happy 16th birthday, 한준!

Paris trip, Day 3

Today we did a bateaux mouche cruise along the Seine. The quays (docks are for "perpendicular parking;" quays are "parallel parking") are a bit west of the Flame of Liberty.
We boarded on the south side of the river, near the Pont d'Alma, and headed east...
...passing Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cité before turning around.
Then we headed west, past our starting point... ...and past the Pont Alexandre III...
...toward the Eiffel Tower. After another turnaround, we headed back to the quai.

After a nice lunch, and look at the lines outside the Musée d'Orsay, that was it!
Noping out of standing in line: best decision of the day.

Paris trip, Day 2

The business district of Paris is called La Defense because of a statue in the area that commemorates the defense of Paris din the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. We started off our day there and went to the Louvre.
It was there that I realized that -- unlike during the last time I was here in Deceber 2001 -- Paris is a very busy place. We took one look at the long lines to get in and decided our time was better spent doing something else. Paris was gearing up for the summer Olympics at the time. So from there we walked over to Notre Dame, which is still under repair following the 2019 fire.
You might think that -- since the only thing going on was construction -- there wouldn't be many people around, but no. In fact, there were bleachers for people to sit on and watch the action.
Although I wasn't interested in sitting around, I did not object to a vin chaud.

In 2001, I got a great picture of the back of Notre Dame. Here's how it looks today versus back then.
From there we went to the Basilisque de Sacré Cœur de Montmartre...
... where the crowds were just as intense. As elsewhere, couples can't resist hanging locks on public landmarks. Then it was on to the Place de la Concorde, where we saw the Luxor Obelisk.
That was enough sightseeing for the day. We returned to La Defense for dinner at the mall.
"I empty my drink and leave my tray on the shelves. Don't take the dishes. We take care of everything!"
In addition to Korean and American food, there was also German.
Because of their participation in JROTC, we needed this picture in front of the Sergent Major clothing store.
We didn't get into the Louvre, but this was close enough.
And one other thing -- Paris has trash cans again. When I was here last, Paris was still reluctant to bring them back because of the bombings in the 1990s. Another fun day with the family.